Kent's education chief and a headteacher from one of the county’s non-selective schools are to join a national panel charged with raising standards at the country’s poorest-performing schools - including 40 in Kent and Medway.

Secretary of State for education Ed Balls has announced that Graham Badman, Kent County Council’s director of children's services will be on a 10-strong panel of expert advisers whose job will be to help schools who have been told they must improve of face closure.

Richard Wallis, the headteacher of Sandwich Technology College - one of Kent’s non-selective schools - will also be on the panel, which will be a key part of what the Government has called its National Challenge initiative.

The initiative is aimed at improving standards at more than 600 secondary schools. Kent has 33 that do not meet the target for at least 30 per cent of pupils getting five good GCSEs including maths and English.

Those that fail to hit that target by 2011 could be forced to close and re-open as academies, which are indepenently run but remain state funded with private sponsors.

The panel will be headed by the former chief inspector Sir Mike Tomlinson, who said schools in selective education authorities like Kent could face particular challenges.

Sir Mike said: "Many of the local authorities with the most National Challenge schools are those in selective areas where "secondary moderns" face particular challenges. As part of the School Improvement Strategy there will be intensive engagement to raise attainment in these schools where pupils often start school with low aspirations. Richard Wallis, has considerable experience of what turns around attainment in ‘secondary moderns’," he said.